Healing The Soil Through Regenerative Farming With Ric Scalzo

Care More Be Better: A Podcast For Sustainable Social Impact and Regeneration

Corinna Bellizzi

Science, Self-improvement, Documentary, Earth Sciences, Society & Culture, Education

5.0 • 22 Ratings

🗓️ 14 May 2025

⏱️ 63 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The earth offers a lot of things that make us and the entire planet healthier – we only have to know which things are genuinely good for us. Ric Scalzo joins Corinna Bellizzi to share how he masterfully combines his knowledge with herbal medicine, regenerative farming, and ancient traditions to bring healing to people and the world as a whole. Ric explains why he believes the future of medicine begins with a microbiome of the soil and ourselves, as well as how to grow high-quality crops through regenerative practices while keeping the soil healthy. Ric also shares the many lessons he has learned from founding Gaia Herbs to starting his newest venture Kokora Life.***Get 20% off Kokora products (Care More Be Better will ALSO receive a commission) with the coupon code: CAREMORE20 or just follow this link and the coupon will auto-load in your cart: https://kokoralife.com/discount/CAREMORE20 ***About Guest:Ric Scalzo began his exploration of herbal and naturopathic medicine in 1980, delving into fields such as Naturopathic Herbal Medicine, Eclectic Herbal Medicine, Ayurvedic Medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and various diagnostic methods. He earned a master’s degree in Herbal Medicine from the School of Herbal Medicine and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Naturopathic Medicine from Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine. After several years of medical practice, Ric founded Gaia Herbs in 1987 and grew Gaia to the most respected and successful herbal company in the country. After selling Gaia in 2019, Ric established the Institute of Botanical Research in Arizona and established CR Medicinal Farms, a regenerative organic farm in Costa Rica. These became the stepping stones for his new adventure called Kokora, a herbal products company focused on regenerative organic cultivation with a mission to "create the finest herbal remedies that promote health and vitality for all”. Celebrated for his pioneering work in Herbal Medicine and his dedication to preserving herbal integrity for over four decades, Ric continues to innovate in the field and plays a key role in integrating regenerative agriculture with herbal medicine.Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kokoralifeGuest Website: https://kokoralife.comGuest Social: https://www.instagram.com/kokoralife/https://www.tiktok.com/@kokora.lifehttps://www.facebook.com/kokoraliferegeneratedhttps://www.youtube.com/@KokoraLifeShow Notes: Raw audio00:03:08 - Ric’s Origin Story00:06:44 - Merging Traditional Wisdom With Modern Science00:10:25 - Making Herbal Products Palatable00:14:50 - Nutrition Density In The Soil00:21:03 - Differences Between Regenerative And Organic00:28:09 - Weeds: The First Succession Of Life00:30:58 - How The Regenerative Movement Grows00:39:50 - Growing Your Own Ingredients00:45:10 - Ric’s Five Core Principles00:51:27 - Plants As Teachers00:50:25 - The Story Behind Kokora’s Name01:09:19 - Episode Wrap-up And Closing WordsJOIN OUR CIRCLE. BUILD A GREENER FUTURE:🌴 Subscribe to our newsletter, and we’ll plant a tree in your honor!🌲 Subscribe and rate us wherever you listen, and we’ll plant another tree Follow us on social media:YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/caremorebebetter TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@circleb.co Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caremorebebetter Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CareMoreBeBetter LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/care-more-be-better

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	You've spoken of regeneration as both personal and a planetary journey.
0:05.2	What do you think this word regeneration means to you on a more human level?
0:10.8	Well, you know, it's interesting because I spent the last two years traveling to Europe to Blue Zones.
0:19.1	And I've been looking at the lives of Centinarians doing a lot of
0:23.5	filming, documentary kind of work. And the takeaways are, what does it mean to be, to live a
0:29.7	life regenerative means that we must nourish, we must connect, and we must move. Those are the three
0:37.4	tenants of health span and lifespan.
0:40.2	Welcome to Care More Be Better, a podcast for people like you who care about the social impact of conscious companies and everyday heroes.
0:49.4	Hear inspiring stories from those who put people in planet before profit and personal gain. You'll learn
0:55.4	how you can make a difference, vote with your dollars, and get involved today. Here's your host,
1:01.1	Karina Belizzi. Hello and welcome to Care More Be Better, the podcast where we explore paths to
1:08.2	regeneration of the planet, of our systems, and of ourselves.
1:12.1	Today's guest is a pioneer in herbal medicine and a true champion of the regenerative movement,
1:17.3	Rick Scalzo.
1:18.3	Before we get started with Rick, I have got to share a tree planting update.
1:22.9	Through our partnership with forestplanet.org, we planned to plant over 20,000 trees this year. And as of April 24th,
1:30.1	2025, when we're recording this episode, we've planted over 8,300 trees, which means we are
1:37.9	well on our way. You can help us scream past that 20,000 objective. You see, we're planting a tree for
1:44.0	every new subscriber, whether on Apple You see, we're planting a tree for every new subscriber,
1:45.4	whether on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or to our newsletter on care more be better.com.
1:52.3	Yes, that means we will plant more than one tree for each of you. So open up those apps,
1:57.6	smash those buttons, and follow along to help us create a greener world.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Corinna Bellizzi, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Corinna Bellizzi and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.